


you'll be the one

by ReluctantRedhead (BoopitybopCoodilybap)



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Nonbinary Newton Geiszler, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trans Hermann Gottlieb, lots and lots of queer headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2662706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoopitybopCoodilybap/pseuds/ReluctantRedhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yes, Hermann was certain of it.  There were two tattooed arms wrapped around his shoulders, and those arms were attached to a disheveled university student, looking thoroughly drunken with a neck tie wrapped sloppily around their head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you'll be the one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was inspired in part by Makin Out by Pomplamoose.  
> It'a a very good song! Have a listen :)
> 
>  
> 
> Content warnings for slurs, alcohol and violence.

Hermann Gottlieb sat at the semi-full bar off campus of his university, everyone but him seeming jovial, a glass of something strong and putrid left untouched in his loose grip. Well, that is, until is spilt.

 

Hermann whipped his head around to see who had collided into him, and who was now… embracing him. Yes, he was certain of it. There were two tattooed arms wrapped around his shoulders, and those arms were attached to a disheveled university student, looking thoroughly drunken with a neck tie wrapped sloppily around their head.

 

“Hey, dude,” they said in a high voice raised slightly more than it needed to be to be heard over the intoxicated cloud of noise in the bar. “I couldn’t help but notice you are literally the only person in this place who doesn’t have someone here with them to enjoy the good time with and also that you really don’t seem to be having a good time. What’s up with that?”

 

Hermann sighed at the clearly drunken person standing before him, or, rather beside him, and attempted to pull their arms off of him. “Please refrain from touching me,” they released their grip on him and allowed their arms to flop to their sides. “And to answer your questions: I am perfectly fine, thank you, and you do not appear to have a companion with you at the moment either, so I would suggest that you find one and leave me be.”

 

The other student tilted their head to the side in an over exaggerated show of drunken confusion. “Huh? No, I have Mako, she’s—“ They whipped their head around, apparently searching for the person they had mentioned. “Oh, shit,” they ran into the crowd, leaving Hermann at peace once again.

 

• • • •

 

It was later that night, after Hermann had become sufficiently intoxicated, that he once again saw the disheveled student who had approached him earlier. Or rather he heard them.

 

Walking back to his off-campus apartment, leaning on his cane for support, he passed by an alleyway he had always been cautious of in the first place. He heard curses and shouts of “piss off!” which sounded vaguely familiar to him. Upon closer inspection of the alley, he spotted two figures in the dull light of the half-moon above head.

 

“Are you a faggot or a dyke?” One figure shouted, shoving the other against the wall of the alleyway. "Are you a faggot or a dyke?!"

 

The other, smaller figure spat, and, before either of them could do anything, Hermann found himself striding towards the both of them, suddenly feeling more sober, and managing to collide his cane with the back of the attackers’ head.

 

The taller figure whipped around and got another swing in the nose. They shouted and ran off, yelling profanities at the other two people left in the alley.

 

Hermann waited a moment to make sure that the attacker was gone, and then squatted down to help the slumped shape on the concrete.

 

“You didn’t have to do that,” they mumbled, and now Hermann was sure that it was the same person from before.

 

“Nonsense,” he replied, reaching out a hand and using his cane as a ballast to hoist both of them back to their feet.

 

He noted two things about the other student: that they no longer had a neck tie tied across their forehead, and that they were bleeding from at least two places on their face that Hermann could see.

 

“I can fight my own battles, dude. And since when were you such a firey guy anyways? You really didn’t come across as the kind of guy who would charge into somebody else’s fight and beat them up with a cane. By the way, cool cane.”

 

Hermann opened his mouth to respond, yet stopped as he realized the full weight of what he had just done. He had never been one to get fully intoxicated on a regular basis, yet from the few times it had happened before he knew he was not an overtly violent drunk. He decided to leave this topic of consideration for another time and ended up replying to the other student with a sarcastic “Yes, from the full minute you got to know me you were able to deduce that much about my personality.”

 

The other person put up their hands in defense. “Whoa, sorry dude, didn’t mean to strike a wire or anything.”

 

“No, I’m sorry. I did not mean to snap at you.”

 

“S'all cool,” they smirked lopsidedly in the moonlight. “Alright, I should probably be getting back to Mako; she’ll probably be looking for me by now and —“ They went to take a step, but faltered, tripping over the folds of their skirt as well as their own feet, and collapsed onto the pavement. After a second, they stuck out one arm, ending in a fist with a thumb sticking up. “I’m okay.”

 

Hermann sighed, again, and, again, knelt to help them.

 

“I have a feeling you’d give me your cane if you didn’t need it so much yourself.” Laughed the other person as Hermann put their arm across his shoulders to stabilize them both. “Unless you don’t need it and you’re just the kind of guy who would carry around a cane to be pretentious and look cool, which, if that’s the case, is totally working for you by the way. I can’t really tell if that’s the case or not right now because I am apparently a terrible judge of character when it comes to you, or possibly just when I’m drunk. This is a unique situation in that I’ve never really been properly tested on my character judgment while I’m in an intoxicated state. But, going back to the cane thing, sort of, if you really wanted to look cool, you should lose the whole old man aesthetic thing you have going on…” It was at this point in walking back to the bar in hopes to find this Mako that the other student kept mentioning that Hermann tuned out of their rambling. Or, he realized as it suddenly became harder to walk, that they had just stopped talking mid-monologue because they had fallen asleep.

 

Hermann would have almost been impressed had he not been left out in the dark with a drunken university student to help find their way back to their companion. He jostled them, and they came back to consciousness with a snort.

 

“…and maybe a leather jacket. Leather is always the best material to wear when one is trying to look hardcore…” Hermann realized with a start that they had most likely continued their monologue in their sleep and had not even noticed the slip in consciousness.

 

They had, by then, reached the bar entrance, and Hermann allowed the other student to lean on the glass and wood exterior of the building. He straightened his vest with a tug and noticed that they were beginning to fall back asleep (or perhaps unconscious) once again, and that they were shivering slightly as they did so.

 

Hermann lightly poked the other student in the leg with his cane to wake them up.

 

“I just realized I never told you my name. Or thanked you.” They said, once again coming back into the waking world almost instantly. “So, Newton’s the name, but you can call me Newt. Also, thank you. And, about the whole," they cleared their throat, "issue back there, I use they/them pronouns.”

 

Newton extended their hand to Hermann, who took it, agreed to using their pronouns, and introduced himself in return.

 

Hermann had been using gender neutral pronouns for strangers for many years because of… best not to go down that path right now. He was correct in assuming Newton’s then.

 

They let go of each other’s' hands just as Newton reached into their skirt pocket and pulled out a ringing cellphone, tapped the touchscreen and put it to their ear.

 

Hermann couldn't be certain of what precisely was said by the person on the other end of the phone, but it sounded like someone was yelling at Newton in furious Japanese.

 

“Mako? Mako, I'm fine, I'm--" Newton said, pausing, and then pinched the bridge of their bleeding nose between their fingers. “Ya, no no no I’ll be there ASAP. See ya.” Newton pressed their thumb to the phone’s screen again and returned it to their pocket. “Look, man,” he said to Hermann. “I gotta go. I’ll see you around.” They walked off before Hermann could think of a coherent farewell, leaning slightly on the wall of the bar and giving him a jaunty wave over their shoulder.


End file.
